For many years the West Point Military Academy seniors visited the field, usually in the month of May, remaining several days in order to study the strategical and tactical features of the battle in preparation for a required thesis. These visits have been discontinued since the World War.
In May, 1917, a training-camp for World War soldiers was established within the limits of the Park. The 4th, 7th and 58th Regiments of U. S. Infantry were transferred from El Paso, Texas, augmented by recruits, and divided into six United States Regular Regiments, viz.: 4th, 7th, 58th, 59th, 60th, and 61st. After being trained they were sent either to other camps or to the battlefields of France. During the year 1918 a unit of Tank Service was trained on the battlefield.
The fortifications remaining within the park include a line of earthworks on Culp’s Hill, which was thrown up by the Union troops of the 12th Corps. On East Cemetery Hill there are a number of lunettes at the position held by the Union batteries. The stone wall along the west side of Hancock Avenue, extending from the Taneytown Road to some distance south of the Angle, where Armistead crossed it in Pickett’s Charge, is well preserved, and practically the same as at the time of the battle. There are some stone walls on the south side of Little Round Top that were erected and used by the Union forces. At the base of Big Round Top and along Seminary Ridge are long stone walls, erected and used by the Confederates. The boulders in the vicinity of Devil’s Den and the Round Tops afforded natural defences for both armies. A line of earthworks on South Hancock Avenue is still in good condition.
The Virginia Memorial.—The bronze group represents the various arms of the Confederate service. Above is a portrait statue of General Lee. The Memorial is the work of F. W. Sievers.
The physical features of the Park are both varied and interesting. Standing in bold relief in the background at a distance of about 8 miles is a continuation of the Blue Ridge, designated locally as the South Mountain. This range, bounding the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania, screened the advance of the Confederate Army, and it was at the Cashtown Gap that General Lee ordered a concentration of his forces before his advance on Gettysburg.
The entire surface of the Park consists of low ridges and intervening valleys, beginning on the north in Herr’s Ridge, upon which Heth’s Division was deployed at the opening of the battle on July 1st. Opposite this ridge, and extending in the same direction, is McPherson Ridge, where the Union cavalry forces under Buford were deployed. Along Willoughby Run, which flows between these ridges, the battle opened on July 1, 1863. The next elevation, immediately north and west of the town, is known as Oak Ridge at its northern extremity and as far south as the Chambersburg Pike; from this point to its southern extremity it is called Seminary Ridge, taking its name from the yet existing Lutheran Theological Seminary. It was held by the Union Army on the first day of the battle and formed its principal line of defence. On the second and third days it was the principal Confederate line.
Seminary Ridge at its southern extremity drops off to a small ravine beyond which is Warfield Ridge, which extends in a southerly direction opposite Big Round Top; this formed the right of the Confederate line of battle on the second and third days.
South and southwest of the town is Cemetery Ridge, of which Big Round Top and Little Round Top are spurs, named from the Evergreen Cemetery and the site of the National Cemetery after the battle.
